Which just about sums up Singapore - living there for three years allowed us to appreciate that Singapore is definitely the capital of Asia when it comes to food!  In fact, we enjoyed it so much that 12 years later we returned to live here again.

There are a huge number of restaurants with an almost unlimited variety of cuisine, including Singapore’s own nonya style, which is the food of the Straits Chinese.   One of our favourites is called Fatty’s, which used to be run by a gent called...Fatty, who passed away in 1999.  The restaurant is now run by his brothers, one of whom is known as...Skinny.  The fact that it is full of Singaporeans in the early evening and ex-pats later on is a good indication that the food is both top notch and authentic.  My favourite dishes here are baby kailan in oyster sauce, Indonesian style prawns (very spicy) and deep fried baby octopus.

Holland Village is a good mix of bars and restaurants, with an especially good Thai restaurant, and is mainly frequented by Singaporeans and expats.  Bernie’s Bar on East Coast Road used to serve the best frozen margaritas in Asia, but alas it is no more.  Great places for seafood include Newton Circus Hawker Centre, open real late, and East Coast Seafood Centre where you can eat drunken prawns and chilli crab with the bobbing lights of the ships moored out in the roads.

Of course, Singapore would not be Singapore without Raffles Hotel and everyone has to have at least one Singapore Sling at the Long Bar.  The Sunday brunch in the Billiard Room is also worth a visit, and it was here, in 1902, that Mr. M. C. Phillips missed a shot when a tiger roared from under the billiard table, reputedly the last tiger to be seen in Singapore.

The first time around we lived at Loyang Valley, where we had our best balcony ever, on which you could sip a cold G’n’T whilst watching long-tailed parakeets swooping across the sunset.  We are now in Villa Marina, on the East Coast at Siglap, and we have fantastic swimming pool.

Favourite Restaurant

Fatty’s

175 Bencoolen Street, 01-31 Burlington Square

Tel. 6338-1087

 

 

 

 

 

Those waiting to eat are a big crowd.

Traditional Chinese proverb

Lion City...